No, obviously. Are you being deliberately obtuse or do you really not know what ingredients are considered culturally to be atomic and what is considered composite and therefore a shortcut? Like there is a floor and it's not very far down.
* A cut of meat is atomic, that cut pre-marinated isn't.
* Flour is atomic, a Jiffy box is composite.
* Oil is atomic, bottled dressing is composite.
* Potatoes are atomic, frozen french fries aren't.
* 5 spice powder is atomic, but cinnamon sugar is composite.
* Cream is atomic, bottled Alfredo isn't.
* Hidden Valley packets are atomic, but bottled ranch isn't. But when bottled ranch is used as an ingredient in a larger dish it becomes atomic again.
* Rice is atomic, Uncle
Ben's isn't. Same rule as ranch when it's used in a larger dish.
* Bread is composite until you make a sandwich with it.
* But this rule doesn't apply to jarred pasta sauce when made into spaghetti. But it does apply to jarred pizza sauce when made into pizza.
Like sure the rules are organic and messy as all cultural norms all, but if you cook with any regularity you just "know" them because it defines when you're allowed to say "I made this" when presenting the dish to others.
Many of these items are complety arbitrary. As someone who's been cooking some pretty elaborate dishes for over a decade, I don't actually recall ever coming across these two distinctions.
Why is cinnamon sugar "composite" whereas 5 spice is atomic? Who defines these? Are you suggesting that if you use packaged cinnamon sugar on donuts you can't claim to have made them?
For reference, I mostly roast and grind from whole spices. If I need garam masala, Chinese 5 spice, Lebanese 7 spice, etc, I'll make it from scratch. If I new cumin or coriander powder, etc, I'll grind them in my spice grinder.
Are you suggesting that jarred pasta sauce and pizza are different to each other? Following your criteria, I'd classify both as composite.
Not to say that I disagree with most of the list - there's a distinction between highly processed and cooking dishes from scratch, but it's more nuanced than what you've presented here.
* A cut of meat is atomic, that cut pre-marinated isn't.
* Flour is atomic, a Jiffy box is composite.
* Oil is atomic, bottled dressing is composite.
* Potatoes are atomic, frozen french fries aren't.
* 5 spice powder is atomic, but cinnamon sugar is composite.
* Cream is atomic, bottled Alfredo isn't.
* Hidden Valley packets are atomic, but bottled ranch isn't. But when bottled ranch is used as an ingredient in a larger dish it becomes atomic again.
* Rice is atomic, Uncle Ben's isn't. Same rule as ranch when it's used in a larger dish.
* Bread is composite until you make a sandwich with it.
* But this rule doesn't apply to jarred pasta sauce when made into spaghetti. But it does apply to jarred pizza sauce when made into pizza.
Like sure the rules are organic and messy as all cultural norms all, but if you cook with any regularity you just "know" them because it defines when you're allowed to say "I made this" when presenting the dish to others.